Up until last week, my kids and the guns going off (apparently from duck season), were the only two things that could get me out of bed at 6 o’clock in the morning on the weekends.

But then I got invited to go meet Martha Stewart. And when you get invited to meet Martha Stewart, you go. You go any which way you can. Morning, night time, a 2-hour car ride, with the flu, bad hair day, big pimple on your nose, through a blizzard, about to give birth…you go.

The book is loaded. And fat. And beautiful, showcasing an entire year of tablescapes, gorgeous scenery, and amazing menus. Ah, to be in Martha’s inner circle. One can dream…

It is not her usual every day food, however. This is more for the ambitious cook, people who entertain large crowds…or somebody who wants an eye-catching item on their coffee table. If you’ve got the cash, it’s worth it. A wonderful addition to her already impressive catalog.

She cooked for us…

…talked, answered questions (confirming that she prefers pie over cake – booya!), and even joked about her “home confinement” days. All this hubbub about Martha Stewart being uptight and unfriendly? Totally untrue. She was warm and charming, and funny! Very real.

Directions
Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Cook chicken, skin side down, until browned and crisp, about 6 minutes. Flip chicken and cook until browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.

Transfer chicken to a serving dish and increase heat to high. Boil cooking liquid until reduced by half, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in dates and parsley; season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and serve with couscous and lemon halves.

Hm. She was full of helpful suggestions, but most of them I already knew – fluffing couscous with a fork, not just scooping it out with a spoon, adding water to a tart crust if it cracks. OH WAIT! She did show us a great trick for peeling ginger that I had never seen…you scrape the skin with a spoon. It looked really easy and will try that.

Some of the other foodbuzz festival-ers SWEAR they saw her at the Ferry Building this weekend and I didn’t believe it…but I guess they were right! Oh if only I had known you were around! I choose you over Tyler any day.

Jude, it WAS awesome! People are so passionate about their opinion of her – love and hate. I don’t know…people love to hate what they don’t understand or what they can’t have themselves. I found her to be very engaging and sincere. Enjoyed every minute of it :D

I find myself with mixed feelings here. On the one hand, Martha occasionally pulls out the stops… in a good way. And I respect her for that.

On the other hand, I’m still angry with her for all the (apparently) inaccurate cookie recipes she published in her special cookie magazine a few years ago… I spent A LOT of time adjusting the recipes so that they actually worked. Especially that chocolate cookie recipe that was too darned sticky to roll out. And I thought that’s what we paid her “people” to do ;)

Zoinks! I’ve had 95% success with her dishes (simplifying a lot of them, but still without error)…but believe it or not, I have only ever made one baked good recipe of hers (the Carrot Cake Cookies.) So I can’t really speak to this. What a bummer :(